In a steel-and-lead-encased
bunker 40 feet below the basement level of his house, Captain Lee Harden of the
United States Army waits. On the surface, a plague ravages the planet, infecting
over 90% of the populace.

The bacterium burrows through
the brain, destroying all signs of humanity and leaving behind little more than
base, prehistoric instincts. The infected turn into hyper-aggressive predators,
with an insatiable desire to kill and feed.

Some day soon, Captain Harden
will have to open the hatch to his bunker, and step out into this new
wasteland, to complete his very simple mission: Subvenire Refectus.

To Rescue and Rebuild

-

I bought this book on a whim; I saw it in
Waterstones for a cheap price, it was a horror/survival book so I thought, “Why
not give it a chance?”

So, as soon as I got home I started to read and
honestly, it wasn’t either amazing or terrible.

There were quite a few flaws, which I believe
a-lot of other readers have also picked up on. These things are simple errors
but yet they affect the whole story. For example: Lee is a military captain who
has a humongous bunker created from a stupid amount of government money. In
this bunker he has a massive plasma screen TV, up to date games consoles with
the newest games, huge rooms, etc. But the one thing that the bunker doesn’t
have, which you think it would, is some sort of danger system/alarm/CCTV
equipment about and showing the progression of the outside world.

Surely, if the government built it for a ‘world
ending cause’ then they would have sufficient Intel uploaded onto Lee’s
computer about what this recent apocalypse has done. (Which, admittedly, was given
on the USB stick… but even then, it doesn’t give enough evidence about the
outside world for Lee, only giving Lee the scientific intelligence, which is
then also proved slightly wrong when the Infected start to form packs and hunt
more intelligently)

There were a few other flaws that I won’t point
out, as I don’t want to spoil other reader’s experiences.

The plot was pretty basic aswell; Lee had to
find more survivors and cultivate an area for which a large following of
survivors would be founded then they create the new world civilisation.

If only it was that easy, Lee has to struggle
with raiders, infected and those awkward moments in life in which we all have
and we all deal with.

(Starting to turn into an episode of The
Walking Dead… I love that show >.<)

I’ve also heard that in some of the old copies
published, a chapter name was spelt incorrectly and Abby’s name changed from
‘Abby’ to ‘Abbey’ a lot.

I believe I have a newer printed version as
mine did not have incorrect spellings nor did Abby’s name change.

Even so, the plot was still enjoyable and easy
to follow, it was all a zombie book needed to be.

Survivors who fight for their need to survive
but yet bad things happen around each turning giving them a much harder and
stronger need to stay alive.

The only bit through out the book, which
actually got to me, was when Lee put down his dog Tango… I did cry… a little… I
like dogs :(

It was generally quite sad, it was written
very-very well. Going from Lee’s unwanted attachment to Tango, to Tango’s
change into an infected. It really reminded me of the scene from ‘I am Legend’
when Will Smith starts crying while he had to put his dog down…
Don’t lie; you cried at that aswell.

But yeah, a book hasn’t made me cry since the Mistborn trilogy.

The characters were pretty basic aswell.

There wasn’t a single character I felt strongly
attached too (Excluding Tango… I liked Tango :) )

Lee was depicted to be some badass American
military captain who had knowledge of military formations and tactical
solutions, but when he was out of his house he made a lot of stupid decisions
that almost ended up in getting himself killed and everyone around him killed.

He did have leadership instincts, but they were
mostly clouded by his need to protect more than 4 people. Honestly, those 4
people should have been his main priority because say those 4 people died, what
makes him fit to lead a much-much larger group of people in this new world.

Then we had side characters such as Angela,
Abby, Sam, Jack and Tango.

Some of the characters which were written in,
didn’t really need to be in the book…
Characters such as Sam or Angela didn’t actually need to be involved at-all, they
only characters that had input within the groups decisions were Lee and Jack.

For example:
Angela is a middle-aged woman (my guess would have to be late 20’s, early 30’s)
She is also Abby’s mum.

The one thing that made me unsure of her
character was that, even though the infection had been going on for about a
month, she didn’t seem nerved or broken when Lee shot her infected husband
right in front of her and Abby…

That subject was never picked up on and never
mentioned again throughout the book.

And then Lee starts to wonder if there was
‘trouble’ in their marriage… like seriously? Come on man. You just shot her
husband. Don’t think about stuff like that.

I don’t think I’m going to continue this series
as I wasn’t fully intrigued or amazed enough to believe that Lee could lead a
successful group to civilisation.

I would have to say that this book was good in
ways, but yet it lacked so much in terms of suspense, impact, effectiveness,
etc.

The plot was a good idea, but there were
loop-holes.

All in all, if you want to have a quick read
through a zombie book go ahead and read this book, you may enjoy it. But if you
are looking for a hard-core zombie book that will leave you on the edge of your
seat, do not read this.